Just my thoughts on all things Soccer.
"I guess I've never viewed soccer as some sort of controlled substance. To me, it's probably more like Nutella. The rest of the world clearly loves it and puts it on almost everything, but here in America we're like, "I don't know, man, it tastes like almonds."

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Old news is still news: US 0 - Canada 0

I have been unable to add anything to this blog for about 40 hours, so I do apologize for the lateness of this 'breaking' story, but the US and Canada ended up knotted at 0 on Sunday night. From what I saw (match tracker) of the game and what I have read since, I don't think we missed much by not having it on television.

I must say when I read on the match tracker, "Johnson is down on the ground near midfield. He is taken off the field...", I thought, "oh crap, Johnson's going to be out three more months. No World Cup for him." But thankfully word came yesterday that, "an MRI exam did not find anything serious." There is a chance he might be back on the field for this Sunday's match against Norway.

Relief fills my body, even if only for a little while.

Of course the big story that came out of the game was the cap for Freddy Adu (pictured). The fact that this only happened because Johnson got hurt is just a minor diversion from the excitement. However, if Adu was looking to impress the Bruce in hopes of making it to Germany, a quick dive and yellow card for such a dive is not the best way to stand out.

Still, it's good that Adu got capped. If he hadn't, what would the papers have wrote about? "The US plays a very uneventful match." This would have been a much better headline.

Actually, they probably would have focused on Landon Donovan's post match remarks.

"(Canada was) very good," Donovan assessed. "They looked like they were the ones going to a World Cup, fighting for (roster) spots. Give them credit. They did things, and they adjusted and made the changes they needed to."

"During the game, we had a bunch of times to talk about it and figure things out, and the players, we didn't figure it out, and we expect more than that."

"We played an awful game. I'm disappointed in a lot of performances, I would say. But I think we need to understand that this is a World Cup year and for a lot of people, this is their last chance. If you're not smart enough to realize that, that's not good.

"I expect more, frankly, but we'll get better."

It would seem that most of the fans in attendance agreed with Donovan since they booed the team off the field.

I'm glad the US changed up their formation to 4-3-3. I don't think this is what we will see a lot (if at all) in Germany, but it is something you should practice.

Also, Matt Reis should some good work in goal. Nothing the difficult was thrown at him, but he was good nonetheless.